Numerous proposals have been advanced over the years for conserving the waste heat from the conventional domestic clothes dryer. These proposals have included devices for utilizing the waste heat from the clothes dryer to heat the home as well as schemes for routing the waste heat through an auxiliary drying chamber for the drying of certain fabrics. However, problems with space, cost and lint have prevented any significant commercial use of any of the various prior art schemes.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,417,481 issued to Rumsey and U.S. Pat. No. 3,197,886 issued to Brame et al disclose flexible garment bag type devices intended for use as accessories in conjunction with the conventional domestic clothes dryer to provide for the drying of fabrics in a static chamber while hung from hangers so that the clothing can be dried without wrinkling. Thus, these patents address a significant problem arising in connection with the use of a conventional domestic clothes dryer, in that, with the use of a conventional domestic clothes dryer, permanent press fabrics must be removed and hung promptly upon completion of the drying cycle to avoid wrinkles. This requires more time and attention to the job of doing the family laundry. However, the devices disclosed by these patents require space that is unavailable in the typical family laundry area. Further, these prior art devices suffer from inadequate distribution of the drying air through the interior of the garment bag type container and may create a lint problem.
Japanese Kokai No. 54-108060 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,799,948 issued to Morrison also disclose auxiliary drying compartments for domestic clothes dryers which, if utilized, would effect a substantial energy savings and would also provide stationary drying zones for the drying of permanent press and delicate fabrics. However, neither prior art reference discloses apparatus which can e used with a conventional domestic clothes dryer. The appliance disclosed by the Morrison patent has a built-in stationary drying chamber. Aside from the problem of incompatibility with the conventional clothes dryer, the Morrison apparatus is designed so that it would be impossible to filter the drying air at any point intermediate the rotary drying chamber and the stationary drying chamber. Japanese Kokai Publication No. 54-108060 suffers from the same shortcomings as does the Morrison appliance. For example, use of the stationary drying cabinet requires provision of a rotary clothes dryer with a bottom exhaust port which is not provided in conventional domestic appliances.
Accordingly, there exists need to address the dual purpose of waste heat conservation and the drying of permanent press and delicate fabrics in a manner compatible with the space limitations of the typical family laundry area which can be utilized in conjunction with the typical rotary clothes dryer found in most domestic households. No matter how efficient and energy saving an invention might be, it is basically useless if it cannot be successfully commercialized. As noted above, the prior art devices meeting the aforementioned dual objectives are incompatible with domestic space availability and with currently used domestic clothes dryers.